Card-holder.



Wl Ff CARD HOLDER.

APPLICATION IILBD IAN. 12, i909.

Patented June 22,1909.

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UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. CLAY, OF OAMDEN, NEW JERSEY.

CARD-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led January 12, 1909.

Patented June 22, 1909.

Serial N0. 471,982.

T o all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM F. CLAY, citizen of the United States, residing at Camden, in the county of Camden and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Card-IfIolders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to card holders; and it has for its object to provide a holder designed more especially for carrying a card bearing the license number of an automobile, and embodying such a construction that a card may be readily placed in and removed from the holder and yet there is no liability of the card being casually displaced during the use thereof.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description and claims when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in Which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating a card as properly positioned in the holdenconstituting the best practical embodiment of ,Y my invention of which I am cognizant. Fig.

2 is a vertical section taken in the plane indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the holder. Fig. 4 is a hori- Zontal section taken in the plane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig. l, looking downwardly.

Similarl letters designate corresponding parts in all the views of the drawings, referring to which:

A is the body of my novel card holder, which is preferably, though not necessarily, made of sheet-metal, and is provided with upper and lower apertures a for the passage of screws or bolts (not shown) through the medium of which the holder is connected with an automobile body. At its lower end the body A is provided with an upwardly extending flange l) designed to receive and support the card, indicated by c; and in order to prevent endwise movement of the card in the holder and consequent casual displacement of the card from the holder, I provide a pin d which extends between the body A and the flange b and is adapted to restin a notch e in the lower edge of the card, Figs. 1 and 2. The body A is provided in its upper portion with three vertical slotsf, g and h, for a purpose hereinafter set forth.

B is a vertically movable card-retaining device which is preferably made of sheetmetal in the form of a slide. The said retaining device is provided at i with a lip or flange designed to overhang the card c, and is also provided at its ends with hooks y' which serve by engaging the vertical edges of the body to hold the retaining device thereon without interfering with the free vertical movement of said device.

C C are devices effecting connection between the retaining device B and the body A and extending through and movable vertically in the slots j and h, and D is a bolt extending through the vertical central slot g and movable vertically therein and also extending through the body A and the retaining device B. The said bolt D serves for the connection of a nut E, which is preferably in the form of a knob, as shown, and consequently it will be manifest that when desired the retaining device B may be clamped against and adjustably fixed with respect to the body A; it being simply necessary when the device B is to be fixed to turn the nut E toward the right, and when said device is to be loosened, to turn the nut toward the left.

My invention contemplates raising the retaining device B when a card is to be placed in or removed from the holder, and in order to promptly return the device B to its normal position upon the release thereof, I provide the tractile springs F, shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The said springs F extend between the connecting devices C and suitable projections 7c on the back of the body A, and it will be readily understood that when the retaining device B is raised, the springs will be put under tension, and consequently will operate on the release of the retaining device to promptly return the same to and yieldingly hold it in its normal position. In such position the device B will prevent accidental displacement of the card c, and from this it follows that it is not essential to adj ustably fix the device B to the body A, though I prefer so to do.

In the practical use of my novel holder the retaining device B is raised precedent to the insertion of the card c, and then after the card is properly positioned with its notch e in engagement with the pin d, the retaining device is released, whereupon the springs will promptly draw it down into the position illustrated. Then when deemed expedient or desirable, the nut E is turned toward the right to clamp the device B against and adi jgiscltably fix the same with respect to the It will be gathered from the foregoing that notwithstanding the facility with which a card may be placed in and removed from my novel holder, the same is simple, compact and inexpensive in construction, and moreover embodies no delicate parts such as are likely to get out of order atter a short period of use. l would also have it understood that when deemed expedient the body A ci my novel card holder may be hung from the body or any other suitable part oi' an automobile.

As before stated, the specific construction herein shown and described constitutes the best practical embodiment oi my invention of which I am aware, but it is obvious that in the future practice of the invention various changes in the form, construction and relative arrangement of parts may be made without involving departure from the spirit oi my claimed invention.

Having described my invention, what l claim and desire to secure by Letters-'Patn ent, is:

1. The combination in a card holder, oi a body, means on the body for engaging one edge oi a card, means movable relative to the body and adapted to engage the other edge of the card, spring means i'or moving the last named means into position to engage the card and for yieldingly retaining it in such position, and means for adjustably and positively 'lixing the movable card engaging means with respect to the body.

2. A card holder comprising a slotted body, means thereon for engaging a card, a retaining device slidable on the body toward and from the iirst named means, connecting devices movable with the retaining device and in the slots oi' the body, and tractile springs connected to said connecting devices and to the back oi' the body.

8. A card holder comprising a slotted body, means thereon for engaging a card, a retaining device slidable on the body toward and from the iirst named means, connecting devices movable with the retaining device and in slots of the body, tractile springs connected with said connecting devices and the back of the body, a threaded bolt extending through a slot in the body and forwardly through the retaining device, and a clampingv nut mounted on said bolt and disposed in front ci the retaining device.

ln testimony wliereoi:l I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM r. oLAY.

TWitnesses Josnrn H. DRAGON, FREDERICK SONTGEN. 

